Thailand has stepped up its efforts to reclaim bronze and stone sculptures that have been in US museum collections for decades. The Kingdom of Thailand’s culture minister announced last week that the country is seeking the return of 23 antiquities, some of which have been housed in the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art since the late 1960s.

Unnamed Institutions in the UK and Australia are also in the Thai government’s sights as it intensifies its efforts to recover sculptures and other artifacts it claims were illegally removed from temples and archaeological sites. Culture Minister Vira Rojpojchanarat is leading a task force to recover more than 700 artifacts in collections abroad that Thailand claims were stolen, the Bangkok Post reports.

via The Nation, 02 November 2018: Exhibition at the Queen Sirikit Textile Museum showcases royal textiles from the Javanese court.

The batik collection of King Chulalongkorn from the central Javanese principalities of Yogyakarta and Surakarta allures with distinctive shades of blue and brown and even some “forbidden motifs” reserved for the nobility.

The House committee on ways and means, chaired by Nueva Ecija Rep. Estrellita Suansing, has approved the tax provision of a bill seeking to rename the National Museum as the “National Museum of the Philippines (NMP)”.

Under the amended tax provision of the bill, the NMP shall be exempt from the payment of taxes, fees and charges imposed by the national government and its political subdivisions, agencies and instrumentalities.

via The Straits Times, 22 October 2018: A new exhibition focusing on Singapore’s pre-colonial history from the 17th century (try to wrap your head around that!) will open next year at the National Museum of Singapore. Unfortunately, the linked article is behind a paywall.

“The National Museum of Singapore will roll out a key exhibition showcasing the country’s rich historical heritage to commemorate the bicentennial next year.

The exhibition – tentatively titled “An Old New World: From the East Indies to the Founding of Singapore, 1600-1819″ – will be staged at the museum’s Stamford Road location in the second half of next year.

Among other things, it aims to shed light on how Singapore was already well connected to the region and world prior to the arrival of the British East India Company.

The National Museum said the exhibition seeks to expand on Singapore’s history by looking at a longer narrative starting from the 1600s, as well as a broader geographical region – the East Indies, of which Singapore was a part.

The East Indies comprises the Malay Peninsula and Indonesian Archipelago, the centre of the spice trade that was highly sought after in Europe. This resulted in the establishment of the East India Company in 1600 and the Dutch Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie in 1602.”

via Bangkok Post, 14 October 2018: A museum is being constructed in Thailand to commemorate the royal crematorium of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

After the cremation was completed in October last year, the splendid structures were removed from the Sanam Luang ground. It has been royal protocol to remove such structures.

Now, the Ministry of Culture plans to build a 800-million-baht Museum of the Royal Cremation of His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej to display art pieces and materials used to construct and decorate the Royal Crematorium.

According to the Office of Architecture at Fine Arts Department (FAD), architectural designs for the new museum are now 90% complete and construction is expected to begin in 2019 and finish in 2020.

via Free Malaysia Today, 09 October 2018: A new museum is planned for the Bujang Valley complex.

via Free Malaysia Today 20181009

The government is looking to pique world interest in the Bujang Valley and Sungai Batu, collectively known as “Kedah Tua”, by building a new museum showcasing findings there over the years.

Deputy Tourism and Culture Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik said plans were being made for an “archaeotourism” site at Kedah Tua which extends from Lembah Bujang to Sungai Batu up to Penang’s mainland border of Guar Kepah, near Penaga, for international visitors.

The School of Art, Design and Media at NTU Singapore is looking for an Assistant / Associate Professor in Museum Studies & Heritage Studies.

Background
Young and research-intensive, Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) is ranked 12th globally. NTU is also placed 1st among the world’s best young universities. The School of Art, Design and Media (ADM) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) invites qualified academics / professionals to apply for a faculty position as Assistant/Associate Professor in Museum Studies & Heritage Studies.

In August 2018, the School of Art, Design and Media (ADM) and the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) at NTU Singapore are launching the region’s first Master of Arts in Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices. The successful candidate, in his/her role as Assistant/Associate Professor in Museum Studies & Heritage Studies, after a period of orientation, is expected to play a central role in driving this graduate programme forward and helping it develop on an international stage in the years which follow.

ADM is concurrently developing a teaching and research focus in Museum Studies & Heritage Studies which values innovation, critical thinking and leadership throughout the entire curriculum. Accordingly, the successful applicant will be expected to teach and conduct research in an interdisciplinary mode, and across a variety of fields which may include: Heritage Studies, History and Future of Museums, Museums in the Digital Age (Museum Informatics, Museum Technologies, Museums and the Web), Material Culture, Visitor Interaction, Program Leadership, Management, Educational Programmes and Methodologies, Digital Visualisation and Representation Technologies, Image Processing, Dynamic Monitoring and Structural Analysis of Monuments and Museum Objects. Other visual culture courses in the candidate’s area of specialization would be most welcome.

Qualifications
A PhD degree as well as a strong record of university level teaching, research, supervision and publishing, are desirable. Preference will be given to candidates with 1) expertise in interdisciplinary teaching at the advanced undergraduate and/or graduate level, 2) record of published research, 3) previous experience in museum leadership / management or collections research.

Experience in working with digital technologies such as 2 and 3D documentation, geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, spatial technologies, augmented and virtual reality, would be seen as an advantage.